Fast-food customers frequently complain about bad service and long waits at the drive-thru. The easiest people to blame are the restaurant employees who are often characterized as being slow, rude or just plain incompetent.

A 53-year old Taco Bell manager in Maryland (who asked not to be identified so he could speak freely without fear of reprisal from his bosses or offending customers) has an answer for all the complainers: Look in the rear-view mirror.

He says that it's often the customer who delays service with a lack of consideration for both hardworking staff and other patrons idling in the lane behind them.

"I've often wished we had a steam catapult -- like the ones they launch planes off of an aircraft carrier -- to get some of these people moving," he says. But he believes that many problems with slow service could be easily remedied if customers followed a few simple rules.